2 Timothy 3:1-5 (New International Version)
3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

I. Philia: the friendship love (vv. 1-2)
• The three natural loves of family, friendship, and romance need redemption through

to God’s agape love.
• Philia is “

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” chosen love that focuses on shared interest and support. (Prov. 18:24)
• The

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friend recession and crowded loneliness are not

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.
• The list of relational destructors begins and ends with

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loves.
• Plan to have a growing friendship or you are planning a catastrophic

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or

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failure.
II. Storge: the family love (vv. 2-3)
• Storge is the

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love that is unchosen affection for sake of

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.
• Family love is the base love to find rest in being known

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and

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. (Gn. 2:25)
• Complainers want

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rather than a spouse, family, or friend.
• The spirit of

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is

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seeking to destroy the nuclear family.
*III. Eros: the romantic love (vv. 3-4) *
• Eros + agape becomes gift-based love in a marriage for a new

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and

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of storge and philia. (Gn. 2:23-25, 1Pt. 3:7)
• Eros as need-love becomes

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or

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.
• The marriage that God designed is eros + philia + storge + agape = regularly

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,

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,

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,

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, and

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together.
IV. Agape: the love of God (vv. 4-5)
• The love of God uniquely invites us into an eternal family that is

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,

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, and

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. (Jn. 14:2-3, Rev. 5:9)
• Receiving God’s agape love and being adopted into his family begins with

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. (Jn 3:5, Acts 2:38)
• Agape gives selflessly to cultivate

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not long-term

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. (Rom. 8:16-17)
•

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are essential in any loving relationship. (Jn. 15:10, Mt. 25:24-30, Jn. 2:24)

TAKE OFF
How many people are in your family? What is one activity you love to do together?
TEXT
1. What thoughts or feelings did you have during this week’s sermon?
2. Read 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Did any of the behaviors in the text surprise you? The apostle Paul states that people will be “lovers of themselves” and “lovers of money” in the last days (v. 2). In what ways does self-centeredness affect friendships? How does a love of money affect friendships?
3. How does storge love influence the expectation of obedience in families (v. 3)? How does a lack of storge impact families, the community, and the church? How can parents infuse agape love in their relationships with their children, even when they are being disobedient?
4. What does it look like to love without storge (v. 3)? How are we instructed to treat people who engage in the behaviors in these verses and how does this make you feel (v. 5)? How can Christians balance loving others with the need to stand firm against sinful behaviors?

TAKE AWAY
How does the presence or absence of the four types of love affect your relationship with God and with others? Which type of love do you find the most difficult to express, and why? How can you grow in this type of love or in demonstrating love in any of the areas in 2 Timothy 3?